Faded 1970s prints usually need two separate fixes, in this order: correct the colour cast first – often a pink or magenta shift, since the cyan dye layer in prints from this era tends to fade fastest – then boost the overall saturation.
What you need
- The scanned print, opened in Photoshop Elements
- About ten minutes
Fix the colour cast first
Do the colour cast correction before boosting saturation, not after. Boosting saturation on a photo that still has a colour cast just makes the wrong colour stronger.
How to restore the colour
- Open the scan in Elements and go to Enhance > Adjust Color > Remove Color Cast.
- Click on something in the photo that should be white or grey – Elements uses it to correct the overall tint.
- Once the cast looks corrected, go to Enhance > Adjust Color > Adjust Hue/Saturation.
- Raise Saturation gradually, checking that skin tones stay believable rather than turning orange.
- Save a copy.
Check the colours look plausible
Colours should look plausible rather than uniformly pink or magenta, and skin tones should look natural rather than oversaturated or artificial.
If the print is very faded
If the print is very faded, full colour recovery may not be possible without inventing colour that’s genuinely no longer there in the print. It’s better to say so and leave the photo slightly muted than to guess at colours that were never captured in the scan.
Next step
If the print only has a mild yellow tint rather than this magenta-style fading, see Correct a yellow colour cast on an ageing print.
Sources and date checked
Adobe Photoshop Elements Help; the tendency for 1970s colour prints to shift toward magenta as the cyan dye layer fades is documented photographic-conservation knowledge. Checked 22 September 2026.